"Put Up" This Vintage Preserves Print

October 01, 2016

Display of home-canned food, a 20x200 Vintage Edition 10"x8" ($24) | 14"x11" ($60) | 20"x16" ($240) | 30"x24" ($800)
We’re hunkering down for the cozy season and putting up a new Vintage Edition! These canning jars are just what the doctor ordered: a well-rounded art diet should always include brightly-hued produce, and a super interesting slice of history. Besides, how freaking good would this print look on your kitchen walls?

With this new edition in the mix, our pantry floweth over with great food-related art. So maybe we’re a little partial to the sweet stuff...can you blame us? When it comes to art, you can always have your cake (or your candy, or your donut) and eat it too. Art indulgence knows no bounds.

Of course, if you’d rather your food-related art be au naturel, we recently added some super-saturated pomological watercolors to our collection, and they’re positively ripe for the picking. In fact, they inspired our search for some vintage vegetables. Our curatorial team unearthed this canning gem, jam-packed with preserves. Though the photo is undated, it’s believed to have been taken in the mandatory period of rationing during World War II. The starring jars pictured here are Kilner Glass jars, though they’re fashioned in the popular Mason jar style with a metal band.

The colorful contents of these jars are likely the spoils of “victory gardens”—the name given to the gardens U.S. citizens were encouraged to grow during WWII to side step the limits imposed by rationing and boost the bounties being mailed overseas to American soldiers. Victory gardeners often grew enough produce to “put up” preserves for the winter, and the government chipped in, mailing out pamphlets and providing services that taught people how to can fruits and vegetable at home.

Collard greens, peppers and pears...oh my! Click here and hover over the photo and you'll see lots of little boxes where the Library of Congress has crowd-sourced info on the contents of these jars. Then click below and snag one of these canning prints for your collection!